ICJ to resume hearing in Kulbhushan Jadhav case from Feb 18

The oral proceedings in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case will commence from February 18 before the International Court of Justice at The Hague, the Ministry of External Affairs said Thursday.

Jadhav, 48, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. India moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in May the same year against the verdict.

A 10-member bench of the ICJ on May 18, 2017, had restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till adjudication of the case.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar declined to go into the details of it.

"The oral proceedings on the International Court of Justice are commencing on February 18. India will present its case before the court. Since the matter is subjudice it is not appropriate for me to state our position in public.Whatever we have to do, we will do at the court," he said in response to a question.

The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, will hold public hearings in the Jadhav case from Monday 18 to Thursday 21 February, 2019, according to the ICJ website.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy. Jadhav's sentencing had evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India had approached the ICJ for "egregious" violation of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, by Pakistan in Jadhav's case.